Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told his Japanese counterpart in Tokyo Saturday that both countries should work together to resolve territorial disputes and find common ground to deal with regional threats such as instability on the Korean Peninsula.

Lavrov arrived in Japan on Friday with Russian defence officials for the “two-plus-two” meetings to improve relations still frayed since the end of World War II, and resolve sovereignty issues regarding a series of islands north of Japan’s Hokkaido.

Japan and Russia have since 1945 disputed ownership of the islands which Moscow calls the South Kurils. The issue has been a 58-year stumbling block preventing the two nations from signing a peace treaty.

During their meeting in Moscow in late April, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed to resume negotiations on a peace treaty.

Abe also met Putin on the sidelines of the G8 Summit on June 17-18 to discuss ties.

“Today, Minister Lavrov and I agreed that our two nations shall hold vice-ministerial level talks in either late January or early February,” Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida said at a joint press conference after their meeting.

The two ministers also explored ways to increase defence exchanges, develop common anti-terrorism and anti-piracy strategies, as well as cooperation in areas such as the economy, security – including cyber-security – and people-to-people exchanges.

“The Russia-Japan relationship in recent times has enjoyed a positive atmosphere, allowing us to resume discussions on [the peace treaty],” Lavrov told reporters.

Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu, who accompanied Lavrov on his visit to Tokyo, said that he would raise the issue of the Japan-US missile defence system, which Moscow says is a source of tension in the Asia-Pacific region.

57 founding members, many of them prominent US allies, will sign into creation the China-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank on Monday, the first major global financial instrument independent from the Bretton Woods system.

Representatives of the countries will meet in Beijing on Monday to sign an agreement of the bank, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said on Thursday. All the five BRICS countries are also joining the new infrastructure investment bank.

The agreement on the $100 billion AIIB will then have to be ratified by the parliaments of the founding members, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said at a daily press briefing in Beijing.

The AIIB is also the first major multilateral development bank in a generation that provides an avenue for China to strengthen its presence in the world’s fastest-growing region.